An Alabama couple competed in the American Farm Bureau Federation’s Achievement Award contest on Monday in Salt Lake City, Utah. The contest recognized the country’s top young farm families.
The couple, Brady and Anna Peek, who raise row crops in Lauderdale and Limestone counties, claimed third place in the competition.
“It’s an honor,” Brady said. “Everyone there was deserving. To be there was humbling, but to get the opportunity to farm every day is humbling as well. We didn’t know if that would be possible. To be recognized as outstanding is icing on the cake.”
“If you win, the prizes are great, but what you get besides that is worth even more,” said Brady. “We’ve learned about ourselves, charted growth and physically written down dreams and aspirations. We’ve learned about each other as well.
“All of that has been invaluable.”
For their third place finish, the Peeks were awarded a $2,500 Investing in Your Future grant courtesy of AmericanAg, $2,500 worth of merchandise from Stanley Black & Decker, and a safe sponsored by Case IH.
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Federation Young Farmers Division Director Hunter McBrayer, applauded Brady’s unique approach to farming.
“Brady has a willingness to do things different,” McBrayer said. “He has been able to chart his own way, and I’m incredibly proud of him and Anna. This is just another step in the right direction for their family farm.”
The Peeks, who grow corn, cotton, soybeans, and wheat, also serve on the Federation’s State Wheat & Feed Grain Committee. Anna is a member of the local Women’s Leadership Committee while Brady, who graduated from the ALFA. Leaders program, chairs the State Soybean Committee and has served as State Young Farmers Committee chair.
This is the second consecutive year that Alabama’s representatives in the contest have finished in the Top 3.
Achievement Award applicants are 18-35 years old and receive most of their income from production agriculture.
The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) is the nation’s largest general farm organization, representing farm families in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. The Federation is a partner of AFBF and has 354,000 members in all 67 counties in Alabama.
Austen Shipley is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News.
